Axpo's profit falls in H1 despite surge in income

Swiss renewable power producer Axpo Holding AG recorded a significant rise in total income and earnings in the first half of its financial year, but profitability was dented by high energy prices.

In the six months through the end of March, Axpo's earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) surged 41% on an annual basis to CHF 1.02 billion (USD 1.03bn/EUR 980m) while total income doubled to CHF 6.01 billion.

Net profit, however, fell 34% year-on-year to CHF 513 million as the financial result of minus CHF 383 million weighted on the performance. Axpo noted also that the extremely sharp rise in energy prices posed a challenge to liquidity management and the power producer was able to absorb the massive increase in collateral payments for hedging Swiss electricity production through active liquidity management.

This hedging of prices in advance raised the collateral Axpo is required to provide by CHF 2.2 billion, which boosted the company's net debt to CHF 2.22 billion.

Axpo currently has 4 GW of new solar projects under development in Spain, Italy and Poland. Through its Swiss CKW unit, Axpo is planning to invest up to CHF 1 billion in photovoltaics, wind power, biomass, hydroelectricity and other technologies by 2030.

(CHF 1 = USD 1.017/EUR 0.961)

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